China: Bashang Grasslands weekend hiking trip

[zebra363]

After the Great Wall hiking trip finished, I joined a long weekend trip run by Beijing Hikers to the grasslands near the Mongolian border. It took 5 1/2 hours on a bus to get there, and 8 1/2 hours to get back to Beijing thanks to the longest traffic jam I've ever been in

Comments

[galwithglasses]

I've been enjoying your China trip pictures a lot. My husband spent a lot of time there about 5 years ago, mostly in Nanjing. He never got too far west. The grasslands are beautiful and the sky is quite blue there. It looks like a lovely place to hike. He said the traffic was crazy around the city and the pollution could get pretty thick but it looks like you found a more peaceful spot for a while. The Great Wall photos were awesome. I really liked seeing the walking surface and the one with the trees growing on the Wall. It looks like it could get to be pretty hot. Thanks for posting all the photos.

[zebra363]

Glad you've found them interesting. I had to look up Nanjing, a place I knew nothing about. I'm slightly jealous of people who've had the opportunity to work there, though I'm sure I wouldn't want to stay for too long given the pollution.

The grasslands are a popular destination for Beijing residents who want to get out of the city and breathe cleaner air!

The hottest day while we were there was low 30s C, but apparently it gets over 40C sometimes, which must be truly awful if it's combined with a bad pollution day!

[sarren]

The grasslands look amazing, yay horses!

Fantastic photos, thanks for sharing.

[zebra363]

The horses seemed to spend from dawn to dusk tied up in the streets, even the ones that didn't look like they'd be used for tourist rides, like the mare with a foal in one of the pictures. Just before dark they'd untie them and herd them off somewhere using motorbikes. The language barrier prevented me from getting a full understanding of how things worked!

[jedinic]

Fascinating! Sides of China I know little about.

[zebra363]

It's such a huge country, it would take months / years of travelling or living there to learn much about it! I'd never felt the language barrier so keenly before.

[sarren]

Are you thinking that's something you might like to do?

[zebra363]

Probably not years, but I wouldn't mind spending a few months there. There's certainly a lot more to see / experience than an ordinary holiday does any justice to.